Kim Folmann Jørgensen
Director, Greenland Tourism a/s
All the parties agreed to expand the facilities for tourists and operators within the Greenlandic tourist sector and tourism will be one of the three central pillars upon which the country's economy is to be based in the coming years, alongside fisheries and the extraction of raw materials.
The three elements which make up the overall objective of the statement are foreign currency earnings of DKK 500 million per year, the building up of a tourism industry which is appropriate to the environment and the culture of the country and establishing local competence which ensures the greatest possible employment effect. The condition for reaching this aim is a figure of 61,000 tourists annually from the year 2005, and an expected 2,000 people working in the tourism sector in that year.
The Landsting agreed to implement a wide range of social measures in order to maintain the positive rate of development in the coming years. Since 1992 the number of tourists has risen by approx. 400%, but with an expected 16,000 visitors this year the current production capacity is virtually fully utilised.
The investments will be made within hotel-based tourism, where earnings are greatest. With the increasing need for rooms in strategic areas the proposal of a financing scheme for the construction of new hotels and renovation of existing ones is very significant.
Disko Bay is and will continue to be a magnet for tourists, and in the statement it is expected that almost half the expected 61,000 tourists from the year 2005 will come to Disko Bay. At present Disko Bay has a relatively low hotel capacity in Greenlandic terms, but the highest occupancy rate. In contrast, the largest hotels lie in the least visited tourist areas. This pattern is to be corrected and the statement points out the need for an extra 770 rooms, 480 of these in the Disko Bay area.
Copies of the tourism statement in Danish and Greenlandic may be ordered from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Transport and Supply on tel. +299 2 30 00.
On 1 May Greenland's parliament approved an extra grant of around DKK 11 million for Greenland Tourism to buy KNI's cruise ship.
- Sailing along the coast is one of the most obvious tourism products in Greenland, and we are very pleased that the M/S Disko is on her way home, said Kim Folmann Jørgensen, director of Greenland Tourism.
- When the M/S Disko was taken out of the schedule we were bombarded from all sides. Interest in cruise holidays is greater than ever, and with the purchase of the M/S Disko with her cabin space for 70 people we will now have an even better opportunity to create a tourist product which is based on what the tourists want, e.g. with an opportunity for longer stays in the towns. We will take the "Hurtigruten" steamer along the Norwegian coast as an example and address the same target group.
- The intention is that once the project is well under way, the activity will be transferred to an independent company with shares being offered to a wide circle of private investors," Jørgensen said.
However, before the project gets that far at least DKK 10 million in private capital needs to be raised in order to create the necessary basis and optimise the ship for future cruises. Jørgensen does not see this as unrealistic in the light of provisional notifications of interest.
Jens K. Lyberth will be responsible for everyday management in Nuuk and will be responsible for the development of tourism conditions internally in Greenland. Lyberth currently holds the position of Director of Business and Development at Greenlandair with responsibility for implementing a wide range of projects, including the negotiations between SAS and Greenlandair, preparation of the future transport structure, etc. Lyberth is provisionally on secondment to Greenland Tourism for a two-year period.
- With the employment of Jens K. Lyberth we will be able to strengthen our input considerably. Jens K. Lyberth has a broad-ranging background in both the public and the private sector and we will find good use for his knowledge of transport, which is a key area when it comes to the continued development of tourism, said director Kim Folmann Jørgensen.
In future Jørgensen will be responsible for the strategic development of tourism and will be directly involved in the marketing department.
Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), with its population of approx. 1100, is the only town on the 8,500 km2 Disko Island, which lies approx. 60 km from Ilulissat (Jakobshavn) in Northern Greenland. The island has been experiencing a healthy boom in tourism since the early nineties. This year Ullitz expects a thousand tourists to visit the island, compared with 193 in 1994 and 750 last summer.
The major tourist attractions of Disko Island include the steep, high basalt mountains, dog sledge trips in the summer and good opportunities to see whales. In addition, visits to settlements are organised, lasting up to six days, along with midnight sailing trips with a barbecue made up of Greenlandic specialities and many different walking trips.
Greenland Incoming is based in Nuuk and is owned by Peter G. Rasmussen, who has lived in Greenland for 24 years.
- I have decided to specialise in a relatively undeveloped area which only a few agencies in Denmark work specifically with, says Peter G. Rasmussen. Rasmussen is responding to demand from both the Danish and foreign market for such a company to be started in Greenland.
- Being based in Greenland ourselves it will be much easier to serve the MIC visitors' needs and to plan the special events which help to dot the "i" of any MIC event. Greenland Incoming ApS offers total solutions including everything from transport, hotel and conference facilities to board and entertainment.
Rasmussen has a wide network of contacts in the Greenlandic tourism industry. For many years he worked in the field of civil aviation on both scheduled and charter flights and has spent the past couple of years as production manager at Greenland Tourism a/s.
Greenland Incoming ApS will cover all of Greenland, but Rasmussen expects many exciting big events in Nuuk in particular when the new House of Culture is complete in 1997.
The full series will be published by the end of '96 with a full 25,000 square kilometres then being charted for hikers.
The Nanortalik map covers one of the most exciting hiking regions and differs from the other areas in that it mainly covers mountainous areas.
Hiking maps are now available for the Narsaq, Qaqortoq and Vatnaverfi peninsula and Ivittuut in Southern Greenland and Ammassalik in Eastern Greenland.
The final proofs need to be corrected on the hiking maps of the Kangerlussuaq, Sisimiut, Nuuk and Ilulissat areas before these are also ready.
The scale is 1:100,000 and the equidistance 25 metres. The text is in Danish, English and German with a very detailed key which makes it possible to organise trips to suit the equipment and fitness of the individual and the length of the holiday.
A further cabin will be built during the summer, making a total of four cabins with good facilities on the section. In addition, a brand new canoe centre is being built on the same section approx. 30 km from Kangerlussuaq.
All bookings through Sisimiut Tourism A/S on tel. +299 14848, fax: +299 15622.
The German tour operator Arktis Reisen Schehle has opened a new Greenland information department in Kempten in Southern Germany
The opening is to be seen in the light of an increasing demand for trips to Greenland. Travel offers, travel literature, brochures, maps, etc. will all be available from the agency.
The first full events calendar for all of Greenland will be published on 1 June
"Greenland - This Summer" is in English and provides an overview of the summer's activities and events categorised by towns and regions.
A reminder!
The invitations to take part in the Vestnorden Travel Mart are on their way. This year the North Atlantic travel fair will be held in Akureyri in Iceland from 3 to 5 September.
Father Christmas gets a new boss
As director of the Santa Claus of Greenland Foundation, Andrei Fencker has been appointed the new director of Father Christmas. Andrei Fencker was formerly a director in Greenland's Home Rule government with responsibility for Health, Environmental Affairs, Trade and Research.
Maternity leave
Mette Vestergård will be on maternity leave from 15 May and her duties will be taken over by Karin Egede. Karin has worked previously for Greenland Tourism in Nuuk, where she was responsible for the planning and execution of the VNTM '93.
The principal activity of the co-operation will be "Cruising the Viking Trail", a concept created for the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Leif the Lucky's arrival in North America - 500 years before Columbus. The actual 1,000th anniversary is in the year 2000 - hence the logo "Vinland 2000".
Leif the Lucky reached "Vinland" - much later known as America - after stopping at Iceland and Greenland. According to the ports involved - Copenhagen, Bergen, Trondheim, Torshavn, Reykjavik, St. Johns in Newfoundland and Southern Greenland - this is such an exciting cruise package that it is worthy of note within the cruise tourism industry.
In concrete terms the co-operating countries will issue a 52-page brochure containing general information on the history of the Vikings, port facilities, tourist-related information and proposed itineraries depending on the type of ship and group. Six pages are devoted to Greenland for the description of selected ports in Southern Greenland, with events being organised at the ports of call.
The brochure will be on display at the cruise exhibition in Geneva from 17 to 20 September and "Cruising the Viking Trail" will be followed up with a number of press releases. The initiator and co-ordinator is Ägust Ägustsson of the Port of Reykjavik.
The '96 season will be busy. There is every indication that the season in Greenland this year will be better than expected with more than twice as many cruise ships calling at Greenlandic ports. Greenland Tourism a/s is expecting 84 arrivals compared with 38 in 1995. Søren Thalund, Greenland Tourism's PR manager, was able to report from Miami on the interest shown by many new cruise lines with a view to the '98 and '99 seasons.
Bookings and sales got underway earlier than usual this year and the pressure is still on.
Niels Krog, TEAM ARCTIC
Things are looking good this year. We have noticed a clear increase in interest in the Greenland products and a substantial increase in sales of trips to Southern Greenland in particular.
Steen Rohdemeier,
Arctic Adventure
Sales are going well in Denmark, but are only just living up to our expectations in Norway and Sweden. We were hoping for a particularly good response to our Narsarsuaq offers with departures from Iceland sailing back directly from Greenland to Copenhagen. Greenland is not a "last minute getaway" and it took some years for Iceland to become integrated into Swedish and Norwegian agencies. However, experience from this year makes us optimistic for '97.
Mogens Gislinge,
Profil Rejser
We have already sold more trips than last year in connection with conferences, incentives and ad hoc arrangements. The holiday travel products are slightly more touch and go, however. All in all there is a slight increase, equal to the increase last year.
Tom Jensen, Vejle Rejser
The '96 season is shaping up incredibly well. Sales will be considerably up on '95. We have sold over two thirds of our summer trips and received notification from several people wanting to go on trips next year. The number of individually organised tours, where we put together a programme to suit the particular wishes of the customer, has doubled.
Hans Grønkjær,
Polar Rejser
Sales of hiking products are at about the same level as last year. However, we have noticed an increase in connection with ad hoc groups. Our big problem is the bottlenecks in the flight system. We have had to turn down several groups because of a lack of seats on flights.
Karin Jensen,
Grønlands Rejsebureau
The reason behind the decision was the unusually mild and changeable winter weather. According to climatologist Stig Rosenørn of the Danish Meteorological Institute, such atypical weather with very little snow and temperature fluctuations from -25 degrees one day to +11 degrees the next have not been witnessed in the Kangerlussuaq region for 15 years.
"All the major races have had to be cancelled due to the weather conditions," said Kim Folmann Jørgensen. "Obviously it is incredibly annoying to have to do so in its first year, but the race was very well received in the international skiing world and we have experienced such great media interest that we will be back on track next year."
Neither have the skiers lost their courage. Several of this year's participants have registered for next year's race. The Arctic Circle Race '97 will be held from 7 to 14 April next year and the concept will be the same: 160 km over three days from Kangerlussuaq near the inland ice to Sisimiut by the sea with two overnight stops camping in tents along the way.
This year the prize was presented by Peter Grønvold Samuelsen, a member of Greenland's government, who emphasised in his speech that Mette Geisler not only promotes Greenlandic art and crafts but also plays a major part in giving tourists the opportunity to experience and buy craft products at reasonable prices.
The prize-winner has 20 years' experience of trading within the field of crafts. She only invests in selling quality products and since she is in constant dialogue with the artists, is able to make demands of quality and provide inspiration for new products.
"These three areas are nothing short of a paradise for stone collectors, and we believe we have found a niche with great possibilities," said Niels Krog, co-owner of TEAM ARCTIC. "There is growing interest in stone fairs and stone polishing both in Denmark and abroad, and naturally it is a very special experience to find the stones in the wild. And in such virgin wilds that nobody has been there before."
Ruby-red tugtupite is very rare and is found only in Greenland and in the Kula peninsula. In addition, there will be an opportunity to find many other rare gemstones and over 100 different minerals.
TEAM ARCTIC has been given official permission for each guest to take home a limited amount of minerals and gemstones free. The group will be led by a guide and geologist familiar with stones and in addition to gemstones and minerals there will be opportunities to see seals, whales, mountain hares, arctic foxes and grouse in what is possibly the most fertile landscape in Southern Greenland. The trip lasts a week and includes several sailing trips. Accommodation will be at Narsaq Farm House and in Ivittuut.
The product was developed in co-operation with the cryolite company Kryolitselskapet and the Danish Polar Centre and will be advertised at the big international stone fair in Copenhagen's Forum on 19-20 October 1996. The well-known Greenlandic artist Christian Rosing has agreed to do some stone polishing on the Greenlandic stand, where other arts and crafts from Greenland will also be on display.
Editors:
Søren Thalund (editor responsible)
Mette Vestergård
Circulation:
1,200 Danish
500 Greenlandic
1,200 English
1,000 German
The next issue will be out in August.
Product development, advice, documentation:
Greenland Tourism a/s
P.O. Box 1552
Hans Egedesvej 29
DK-3900 Nuuk
Tel.: +299 22 888
Fax: +299 22 877
E-mail: greenland.tourism@greennet.gl
Internet: http://www.greenland-guide.dk/gt/
Marketing, information, distribution:
Greenland Tourism a/s
P.O. Box 1139
Pilestræde 52
DK-1010 Copenhagen K
Tel.: +45 33 13 69 75
Fax: +45 33 93 38 83
E-mail: greenfo@inet.uni-c.dk
Internet: http://www.greenland-guide.dk/gt/
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